Kpelle syllabary

Origin

The Kpelle syllabary was invented during the 1930s by Chief Gbili of Sanoyea, Liberia. It was used to some extent by speakers of Kpelle in Liberia and Guinea during the 1930s and early 1940s but never achieved popular acceptance.

Today Kpelle is usually written with a version of the Latin alphabet.

Notable features

The Kpelle syllabary consists of 88 graphemes and is written from left to right in horizontal rows.
Many of the glyphs have more than one form.

Used to write

Kpelle, a member of Mande group of Niger-Congo languages spoken by about 490,000 people in Liberia and around 300,000 people in Guinea.

Kpelle syllabary

The Kpelle font used on this page was created by Jason Glavy and is available from: http://www.geocities.com/jglavy/african.html

Sample text in Kpelle (Latin alphabet)

Nukan gele kaa pələ kaa tanɔn, yiliɓa nu kəle maawiyə pələ da tɔɔi gaa ɲei yɛnɛyii hu kɛpələ kaalɔ tanɔn; di kɛmɛni a nukan ŋaa ɓə gɛɛ hwəkɛli wɛlikɛmaa ə lɔ di luwai.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Other Niger-Congo languages

Akan, Bambara, Bemba, Chichewa, Duala, Ewe, Ewondo, Ga, Ganda, Herero, Igbo, Kirundi, Kpelle, Lingala, Mende, Shona, Southern Sotho, Swahili, Twi, Wolof, Xhosa, Yorùbá, Zulu

Other syllabaries

Blackfoot, Caroline Island Script, Carrier, Celtiberian, Cherokee, Cree, Cypriot, Hiragana, Iberian, Inuktitut, Katakana, Kpelle, Loma, Mende, Shona, Ndjuká, Nüshu, Ojibwe, Vai, Yi